Posts Tagged ‘humor’

Beat Takeshi and Tokoro George published the third issue of Famoso on April Fool’s Day

It could be said that modern Japanese comedy doesn’t exactly make extensive use of satire for its material. For the most part, comedians center their acts on physical and verbal gags, one-off jokes that can be incorporated into a variety of different circumstances.

April Fool’s Day, however, seems to have created a space in which it is acceptable to satirize to a certain extent. The event isn’t celebrated widely in Japan; although, multinational companies with Japanese divisionstake advantage of the occasion to let their hair down and show their lighter side. Google debuted their unique Japanese keyboard, and YouTube introduced TEXTp, the latest video mode unique to Japan’s text-centric cell phone culture.

This year some smaller Japanese companies used the day to raise their profile virally through the mad linkfest spawned by April Fool’s Day. The craft beer company Sankt Gallen introduced its new brew Toriaezu Beer, making fun of the Japanese custom of ordering “whatever the hell you have on tap for now” as the first drink at a restaurant. Sankt Gallen sold the beer for 24 hours on April 1, alone or bundled with their standard selection of beers.

Probably the most ambitious April Fool’s effort was that of comedians Beat Takeshi and Tokoro George, who released the third issue of their satire magazine Famoso. They first released the magazine for April Fool’s Day 2009. Reportedly the result of an excess of creative material from when the two hung out at Tokoro’s home and office, the magazine was so popular that it was reprinted, and the pair released a second issue last August.